By Michael Regenstreif
Last week was the Festival of Shavuot, which commemorates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. During Shavuot, the Book of Ruth, one of the books of Ketuvim – Writings – from the Jewish Bible is read at synagogue services.
Ruth was a Moabite woman – the biblical Land of Moab was located in what is now Jordan – who converted to Judaism. One of Ruth’s great-grandsons was King David, one of the most revered figures in Jewish history.
A lesson we learn from the Book of Ruth is about the imperative to fully accept those who, while not born to Judaism, have embraced it. Conversion is not a modern phenomenon. It has been part of our religion since ancient times. And were it not for conversion, David would not have been Jewish as the tradition dictates matrilineal descent. If he weren’t Jewish, he certainly wouldn’t have been king, Jerusalem would not have become his capital, there would have been no King Solomon and the Temple would not have been built. We could speculate endlessly on the what-if consequences of Ruth not having converted to Judaism.
It’s not only because we’ve just celebrated Shavuot that I’m thinking about the story of Ruth. I’m thinking about Ruth because a recent high rabbinical court ruling in Israel has called non-haredi conversion into question. The ruling grew out of a messy divorce case in Ashdod. The wife had been converted, 15 years before, by Rabbi Chaim Druckman. The Orthodox rabbi is the head of an Israeli yeshiva and has been the director of the Israeli government’s Conversion Authority for years.
The husband in the case argued that because his wife was not living a strictly Orthodox lifestyle, her conversion was illegitimate and, therefore, the marriage never really took place. The haredi – or ultra-Orthodox – rabbinic court agreed and so ruled. The couple’s three children, having been born of a woman now considered a gentile, were also stripped of their Jewishness.
The case was appealed to the Bet Din Elyon in Jerusalem, Israel’s highest rabbinic court, where the ruling was upheld. The ruling went further and declared that all conversions performed by Rabbi Druckman, or under the authority of his office, were nullified.
In Israel, there are no provisions for civil marriage. All marriages there are under the aegis of the religious authorities. Thus, all marriages involving couples where one of the partners was converted by Rabbi Druckman, or under his authority, were similarly nullified. The ruling, written by haredi Rabbi Avraham Sherman, further said that when converts from other countries come to Israel to be married, the marriage must not be allowed to take place if they did not “look” religious. Conversion papers from a religious court in, say, Canada or the United States would not be enough if they didn’t “look” religious enough.
The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), a body that represents more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis in North America, issued a statement that said, “The ruling itself, as well as the language and tone thereof, are entirely beyond the pale of acceptable halachic practice, violate numerous Torah laws regarding converts and their families, create a massive desecration of God’s name, insult outstanding rabbinic leaders and halachic scholars in Israel, and are a reprehensible cause of widespread conflict and animosity within the Jewish people in Israel and beyond. The RCA is appalled that such a ruling has been issued by that court.”
One article I read recently, written by Rabbi Martin Lockshin, a modern Orthodox rabbi who teaches Jewish studies at York University and who is currently on sabbatical in Jerusalem, spoke about modern Orthodoxy having to fight back against the religious fundamentalism being imposed by haredi rabbis on religious life in Israel and beyond.
The contemporary Jewish world is pluralistic. Some of us are very religious, others of us not at all. In communities like ours, we respect all Jewish denominations – ultra-Orthodox, modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform – as equally legitimate. As the homeland of all Jewish people, I believe Israel needs to do the same.
In most arenas, Israel is among the most modern countries of the world. As a democracy, I think its democratic principles should be extended to the religious affairs of the state and that Israel should recognize the legitimacy and equality of all of our Jewish denominations.
I wonder how Ruth would have fared at the Bet Din Elyon.